this is harder than it looks, since we have been running full-tilt-amok for quite some time since last any rules were posted; but I am going to paste them in here and try to edit out all of the blatant rulishness.

to start, the moderator/hogmaster® posts a [really] obscure word and asks for definitions to be submitted via PM, usually within a se'nnight (seven nights). at that point the submittals are grouped into a post and polling proceeds. voting usually continues until all of the contributors have had a chance to vote, or until polls are arbitrarily closed by the hogmaster.

Scoring..Rule A is: the points don't matter

[someone asks] Do those of us who contributed daffynitions get to vote? I was confused on this point by the first round. One gets to in Balderdash.

yes, in the normal course of the game only the contributors would vote. we've liberalized the rules to let everyone participate. my interpretation [has been that contributor votes count for more than onlooker votes]. here are the rules again, as amended to date:

1. [points are] given to each player for every vote (or guess) his phony definition receives.2. points are awarded to each player who chooses the true meaning.3. points are given to the moderator only if none of the players choose the true meaning.4. [no] points are awarded to any player who submits a definition which is similar or very close to the correct meaning [rather, the moderator shall request a resubmittal]5. If two or more players submit a definition per rule 4 (in the judgment of the moderator), the round will be thrown out with no points scored (or the moderator can disqualify obvious attempts to sabotage the game :-Þ )6. A player may vote for her own definition but scores points only for those others she can bluff into also voting for that definition.. (i.e., you can't get a rule 1 point [voting for your own def'n!])

scoring, such as it is with points not mattering, is virtually at the whim of the moderator/hogmaster® [see latest round, e.g.]. whinging to the hogmaster, while encouraged, has been shown to be completely ineffectual.

there have been several hogmasters over the years.

You're welcome, tsuwm.Jackie, can you sticky this up here? Edited by request

What with participation in The Game at quite a high level, I wonder if there is any interest in returning to a competition basis; i.e., reinstituting a scoring system. But I'm thinking there should be not only an incentive for submitting definitions, but for the moderator (read hogmaster™) as well.

Hi, Jackie, this game keeps intriguing me , but when I read the rules there is one thing I don't understand. Someone puts up a word. The others give definitions but are they or are thay not allowed to usedictionary help? Does it have to be an invention of your own?It seems like fun. But you really must understand it well, before you join , no?

Would you give me an additional explanation, if you please? Thanks in advance.

The game has two parts, one of them is trying to invent the most likely-sounding definition in order to fool the most people into voting for your definition as the real one. You can also try to trick people into voting for your definition.

The other is to try to figure out which is the real definiton, which only the Hogmaster knows.

There's a whole scoring method but it seems to vary from Hogmaster to Hogmaster, and nobody's really counting anyway.

You don't have to have come up with a definiton to vote. Don't be shy to jump right in. It's all in good fun.

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